


Have you ever heard of vigilantism?

by placetne



Series: Derry City's Dark Knight [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: BatCat AU, Batman AU, Catwoman AU, Flirty fluff, M/M, Mentioned Beverly Marsh, Mentioned Bill Denbrough, Mentioned Stanley Uris, Short and hopefully sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:47:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23936314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/placetne/pseuds/placetne
Summary: Rich hypochondriac Eddie Kaspbrak has a secret...identity. The only threat to it? A funny, flirty cat burglar.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Derry City's Dark Knight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741309
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	Have you ever heard of vigilantism?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I have been reading Reddie since Chapter 2, and I am so impressed by the quality and the length of y'all's work! My contribution is neither very good nor very long, but it has been stuck in my head since I saw this gif set on Tumblr: https://ransonepj.tumblr.com/post/616384663096901632/james-ransone-in-broken-city . And so, I wrote this little idea down quickly. Please let me know if y'all like it! I have some general ideas where the other Losers and Georgie fit in, so I could add on if anyone is interested. Thank you so much for reading!

Every guest knew the rules for attending a party at the manor—dress to the nines and under no circumstances try to shake hands with Mr. Eddie Kaspbrak. Mr. Kaspbrak’s hypochondria was notorious in Derry City. He threw extravagant parties, then would be quarantined for weeks at a time, citing poor health. His personal physician, Dr. Stanley Uris, was called in at strange hours with alarming frequency. Society as a whole simply wrote this off as the eccentricity of a millionaire.

Eddie had worked very hard to cultivate this image. He did tend to worry too much about his health; after his father’s death, his mother had smothered him until her own untimely death. However, he had found a less mundane way to deal with his worries about health and safety—he became Batman. Passive worrying had been slowly eating away at him, so he decided a more active approach to making the world a better place was advisable. And there was no better cover for crime-fighting related injuries than the panicked fears of a rich hypochondriac. And largely, he had succeeded in interacting with society while maintaining the level of privacy required of a vigilante. He didn’t think even Commissioner Denbrough had an inkling of who he was under the cowl.

The one crack in his carefully constructed façade was Mr. Richie Tozier. The banter, the jokes, the disdain for society—at the risk of sounding cliché, the man was like his catnip. Because, if contending with Richie at parties wasn’t enough, Batman had his hands very full with The Cat. Eddie couldn’t quite pin down either side of Richie. Mr. Tozier was a comedy writer who interacted with the elite, but he clearly had a chip on his shoulder about the hypocrisy of the rich who lined his pockets by buying his work. The Cat was ostensibly a burglar, but he had given Batman more than one good tip about dangerous underworld activities. The fact that he was tall, dark, and unconventionally handsome didn’t help Eddie’s analysis at all. 

At tonight’s party, Richie had been on his best behavior thus far. His small talk had only the slightest hint of mockery, and he hadn’t shocked the guests by greeting Eddie with a handshake or even a hug and then gravitating toward him frequently during the evening. So, naturally, Eddie was more on edge than he usually was at these things. He couldn’t decide if approaching Richie himself would unsettle him more or not. Then, about two hours into the party, Richie appeared at his shoulder, breaking him out of his anxious and pensive mood. 

“Mr. Kaspbrak, thank you for the generous invitation,” Richie said in a teasing tone. 

“Richie, you know as well as I do that you would be here whether or not you had a formal invitation.”

“True. I can’t help that I love to go where I’m not invited,” Richie said with a wink. “I’d gotten used to sneaking in here to visit your mother.”

At this, Eddie turned to fully face Richie, ready with a retort. However, Richie leaned in to his space quickly, throwing Eddie off his rhythm. “I have another party I need to check out, but I’ll be in my usual spot later tonight, if you need to blow off a little steam.”

Eddie’s breath hitched, but Richie was already walking away with an endearingly goofy wave. 

Though Eddie tried his best to exercise self-control, he found himself slipping away to the cave in under an hour. He claimed a frightening migraine with shooting pains down his neck to anyone he passed on his way out. Then he quickly donned the cape and cowl and took to the rooftops. 

A few minutes after Eddie arrived on the rooftop of Rogan + Marsh, he heard the tell-tale sound of a whip cracking, and then The Cat landed next to him.

“Hi again, Bats.”

“Cat,” Eddie said with an acknowledging nod, “the name is Batman.”

“Well, fellow creature of the night, what brings you out tonight?” 

Drily, Eddie responded, “An invitation.”

“How mannerly. I, too, had an event tonight. I was on my best behavior, in hopes the handsome host would be impressed.”

“Well, I have never known you to be without an ulterior motive.”

“Actually, I have an ulterior motive within an ulterior motive. I have hidden depths. As your mom well knows.”

“Down, kitty.”

The Cat began toying with his whip and said, “I was hoping that I had made a good enough impression to have earned a reward.” The whip shot out, aimed to wrap around Eddie’s waist. 

Eddie caught the whip in his hand and began reeling it in, pulling The Cat closer with each word, “And do you think you deserve a reward?” He was basically breathing the last word into The Cat’s mouth.

Goggles couldn’t hide The Cat’s gaze dropping to Eddie’s lips as he whispered, “Eddie.” 

As Eddie was reaching up to push the goggles up, to reveal eyes he was in danger of losing both sides of himself in, sirens began to wail, and the Bat Signal lit up the night sky. 

The Cat jumped back, instantly switching back to his normal light and flirty tone, “I must be off. Not all crimefighters understand my appeal as well as you do.” 

Eddie hoped he wasn’t imagining the slight downturn to The Cat’s mouth as they leapt off the building in opposite directions, safely shrouded in darkness once again.


End file.
